@thepaperdane

English Debate Association and the Novice Cup

This weekend, my friend and I attended the novice cup – a debate tournament arranged by a group of debate associations from Renmin University and other universities in the Haidian district.

The novice cup was designed to give novice speakers a fun and friendly introduction to the world of competitive debating. And it really was a lot of fun!

In the interest of making the event as fun and useful as possible, the organizers made a point of providing us with thorough feedback and a motion analysis after each round of debate. This made it easy for us to understand how we could improve our arguments and speeches, rather than getting discouraged if we lost a round or two.

Although our team didn’t break to the final round which is taking place next weekend, we had loads of fun debating with both Chinese and international students. The British parliamentary debate style is both fun and educational. Especially for me as an English learner.

The atmosphere at the tournament was friendly and relaxed, and we got to meet a lot of new friends who were all interested in debating, just like ourselves! In between rounds, the hallways were buzzing with conversations and laughter.

If you would like to learn more about competitive debate, I would highly recommend getting involved with your university’s debate club or association. The whole thing might seem a bit unapproachable at first, but in my experience everyone is very friendly and supportive of fellow debaters.